A Trip Through the Looking Glass
by Ghetto Outlaw
Summary: When a young woman goes missing and time is running out, the world's greatest detective calls on the only person who can help, Amanda King.
1. Chapter 1

Many thanks to LaCorelli, my wonderful, beautiful wife for her help with this. I could not have done it without you, sweetheart.

**A Trip through the Looking Glass**

Amanda King sat in a small room with a file folder on the table in front of her, brow furrowed trying to concentrate. Outside, Lee stared at her for a moment before turning to the man at his side.

"You do realize that despite her security clearance and her involvement in the Mongoose case, she doesn't have any training in this kind of thing, don't you?"

"It doesn't really matter at this point. The man's brain is scrambled and getting worse, and we've already had trained experts in. Hell, you know we've got _the_ expert here, and he's the one who requested your Mrs. King. And don't kid me, Stetson; I know your gang likes their secrets, but I've got connections of my own, and I know your agency isn't the only one using her talents, though I swear all of you keep your opinions close to your chest, but I do know one man with UNIT who was willing to admit to her being useful at Bromfield Hall."

"What?" Lee exclaimed.

The commissioner waved a hand. "Fine. Keep your secrets, but the important point is that time is running out on this case, Mr. Stetson; we're down to desperate measures, and well, _he_ believes she's got a chance to succeed where the others failed, and I'm not in a position to argue."

"I still don't like it," Lee said. "The man is dangerous and deranged, and you're planning on putting her in there alone with him."

"We'll be right outside."

"And right outside may not be close enough if he goes off."

"Violence isn't really his forte," the older man said. "He's a neurophysicist not a thug. Mind-control is his thing; after all, the reason we're in this mess is that he scrambled his brain with his own equipment. "

"That's not exactly reassuring; a woman is missing because of him," Lee said. "Do you really think Lily Quenton's still alive?"

"We still have hope."

"What is her connection to him anyway?"

"None that we know of."

"Then why did he take her?"

The commissioner sighed deeply. "The man is insane. He doesn't need a reason."

~o~O~o~

The overhead lamp highlighted the silvery strands of his unkempt hair and deepened the lines of his furrowed brow. He kept his narrow eyed gaze fixed blankly on the floor seemingly oblivious to her presence.

Amanda stood by the door for a moment before making her way to the table and settling into the chair at the far end across from him. She cleared her throat nervously. "Uh… hello," she said. "My name is Amanda King."

He remained silent and motionless.

Gingerly, she sat in the chair at the opposite end of the table. "Mr. Tetsch?" she said just above a whisper.

The response was subtle but dramatic. He raised his head and looked at her with his wide, bloodshot eyes. He half smiled as he said, "Oh... oh my... you know me. You remember me. I am flattered, your Majesty."

Amanda looked at him carefully; clearly he was either confusing her with someone else or he was taking her name as a title. It would be wise to figure out which. After all, she knew he was obsessed with the works of Lewis Carrol, and in his scrambled mind he could be retreating to the worlds of Alice. She was glad that she knew the books so well from her childhood, to the point that she felt that her current life was sometimes a trip through the looking glass to a warped world where a housewife turned spy. But in any event she must be careful when dealing with this man, not too bold until she could start to understand where he was coming from. So cautiously she said, "Oh, there's no reason to call me that. The name may be King, but I'm not really royalty, Mr. Tetsch."

"Oh my, oh my. A queen a king, a king a queen!" He looked over at the one-way mirror and then back to Amanda. "How curious, your majesty. I don't know which side of the looking glass this is." His smile dissolved and he began to wring his hands nervously.

_Looking glass?_ Amanda thought and then looked down at her white outfit. _Could he think I'm the White Queen?_ Pulling together her memories of _Through the Looking-Glass_, Amanda said, "To be honest, I'm not sure either, though I used to be able to believe six impossible things before breakfast."

He seemed to relax a bit, but only a little. "I dare say you still could, your Majesty. I know you used to practice a half-hour each day. Yes, yes, you are a queen who could be a king."

"And you are the king's messenger," Amanda said slowly. "Aren't you, Mr. Tetsch?"

Smoothly, he eased his chair back and stood. Smiling, he bowed with a flourish of his hand. "Hatta, messenger of the White King, at your service, your Majesty." His look then became serious. He moved across the narrow room to stand in front of the mirror. Slowly, he moved a hand over the mirror, just above the surface, seemingly taking care to not touch it. "Tetsch? Tetsch? I... I... yes, yes... I think so. Yes. But only on this side of the glass."

Another turn, he was sinking further into the Looking Glass World where he had another name. "Of course," she said quickly. "Sometimes I forget which side of the glass I'm on. Sometimes I get all turned around. However, I need your help to unconfuse a confusion." It wasn't really from the books, but it seemed the best thing to say.

"I am, as always, pleased to be of service."

"And I am in need of your services," Amanda said, trying to find the right way through this conversation.

Tetsch walked back over to the table where he stood next to his chair and smiled expectantly at Amanda. "By your leave, Majesty?"

"Oh, of course," she said, catching on to his meaning, "be seated."

He sat. After a moment, he straightened, adjusted his collar, brushed off the lapels of his coat, and set his intertwined fingers on the table. Tetsch tilted his head slightly, clearly waiting for her to speak.

Amanda drew a deep breath, which she hoped didn't seem too nervous. "My kitten. My imperial kitten. I don't know where my Lily is."

"Oh," Tetsch breathed. "Oh... oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my." He pulled his hands back to his lap. "Lily. I... I... I remember... something... .yes, something about... Lily." Slowly, he rocked back and forth back and forth. He closed his eyes and breathed uneasily through clenched teeth. "There was... something... something about Lily."

Amanda eased her chair closer. "Something? What something?" she asked gently. "What something, Hatta?"

"Oh dear oh dear oh dear." He opened his eyes and, without warning, tears began streaming down his face. "Something about Lily. Something... something that happened. Something," he looked squarely into Amanda's eyes,"something I've done."

Amanda tried to think. This was a topsy-turvy world she was navigating through. "You know that things that are done can be undone and some things don't have to be done at all."

"Done, done, and done. Something I've done. Something I haven't done. Something I will do. Done and done. Oh, Majesty! I know... I know there was something... something I was to tell you. Tell you about Lily. Your kitten... your kitten."

"Hatta..."

"Done and done," he kept mumbling over and over.

Still unsure of what to do, Amanda did the only thing that seemed right. She slid over a little closer and placed a hand on Tetsch's arm. "Hatta, do you know where Lily is? I would so like to see her."

Tetsch pursed his lips and shut his eyes tightly. "Done and done. Something I've done. Somewhere, Lily is somewhere. I... I... I know, but I can't remember. Oh, Majesty!" He cried harder. "I am so befuddled! Poor Lily. Something I've done. How to undo what I've done when I can't remember what I've done. What I haven't done. What I will do." Tetsch looked imploringly at Amanda. "What _will _I do?"

Amanda closed her eyes for a moment to gather her thoughts. She felt she was close to finding the right path. She hoped she was at least. Opening her eyes, she looked at Tetsch. "Well, you don't have to do what you haven't done yet, if only you can tell me where Lily is. You know things go backwards for me; perhaps if you go backwards too, we can go forward and find her then."

"Backwards? We can go backwards? Undone and undone? What I haven't done!" Tetsch smiled warmly, hopefully. "Through the looking glass, Majesty? Undone and undone?"

"Undone and undone," Amanda replied.

"Oh, Majesty! Your kitten. Your Lily. I know. I do know where your Lily is, but I can't remember. Can't remember where she is. I know that I can't remember, and I can't remember what I know. Oh dear, oh dear, it is a poor sort of memory that only works backwards and poorer still when it won't work at all," he said, some anxiety creeping back into his voice.

"It's all right," Amanda said reassuringly. "Living backwards always makes one a little giddy at first. But the great advantage is that one's memory works both ways. What sort of things do you remember best?"

Tetsch's eyes darted over the table as if hoping something would appear. After what seemed like a long time, he looked back to Amanda. "The fish," he mumbled.

"The fish?"

"The fish and the dish. I remember the fish. The fish I caught."

"Caught?"

Oh, of course, Majesty. That is always first. First the fish must be caught. That is easy: a baby, I think could have caught it."

"And the fish must be bought," Amanda said, recognizing the White Queen's riddle, hoping she could remember at least enough of it.

"That is easy," Tetsch continued, "a penny, I think, would have bought it."

"Now cook me the fish," Amanda said coaxingly.

"That is easy, and will not take more than a minute. Let it lie in a dish! That is easy because it already is in it." Tetsch became more and more animated, speaking faster and louder. "Bring it here! Let me sup!"

Amanda joined him in reciting it.

"It is easy to set such a dish on the table," they went on together, "take the dish-cover up. Ah, _THAT _is so hard that I fear I'm unable! For it holds like glue, holds the lid to the dish, while it lies in the middle. Which is easiest to do, un-dish-cover the fish, or dishcover the riddle?"

"Hatta? Where is Lily?"

"Don't you see, Majesty? She is on the dish."

"The dish?"

"Un-dish-cover the fish! Dish-cover the riddle! Lily is on the dish! Undone and undone! What I haven't done!"

~o~O~o~

Lee had been having a hard time keeping still behind the mirror. What were they thinking letting Amanda in with a man who'd scrambled his own brains. Besides no matter what they thought, she didn't have the experience, and frankly he was starting to worry about the number of people who assumed she knew more than she did. Yes, it was useful, but it was also dangerous, like now.

It didn't help that the ridiculous brooding character in the corner just stood there quietly watching Amanda's interrogation without saying a word. Hell, Lee wasn't even sure he was breathing.

Things didn't get better as he watched Amanda exchanging nonsensical lines with the prisoner. It was clear the commissioner had no more idea than he did if Amanda was getting anywhere with the prisoner. They exchanged a confused glance as Amanda and Tetsch started quoting some riddle together. The "undones" and "dish-covers" were making his head hurt. He was about to insist on going in when the shadow in the background finally spoke.

"That's it, Commissioner."

"What's it?"

"Send your men to Pearl Moving & Storage Facility, Unit 106."

~o~O~o~

The door creaked open and in stepped Gordon. He looked from Tetsch to Amanda. "We have it."

"Oh, I see. Good." She started to get up but sat back down. "Hatta..."

"Undone and undone?" Tetsch smiled but it was a sad smile.

"Undone and undone," Amanda said softly. "Thank you, Hatta. Thank you for helping me find Lily."

Tetsch's gaze shifted to where Gordon stood. "They are still coming. They are still coming for me, aren't they, Majesty? What I've done. They will take me away, won't they?"

"Yes, Hatta."

"What I've done," he murmured resignedly. "They won't hurt me, will they, Majesty?"

"No, Hatta." Amanda looked sternly at Gordon and then to the mirror. "They won't." There was no mistaking that she telling them all they had better not.

Tetsch stood and moved behind Amanda to hold her chair for her as she rose to go. "Goodbye, Majesty."

"Goodbye, Hatta." She had hardly placed a hand on the door when Tetsch called out to her.

"Thank you for believing in me, Majesty."

"Of course. After all, you believed in me first."

~o~O~o~

Amanda stepped out of the interrogation room. Once the door closed behind her, she let out a tense breath.

Lee quickly moved over to her side. "Are you okay, Amanda?"

"Oh, yes. I'm fine."

"That was some impressive work, Mrs. King," Gordon smiled warmly, clearly impressed.

"You actually know where Lily is?" Amanda asked.

"We'll see in a few minutes," Gordon replied. "We have men moving to her supposed location right now."

"Where is that?"

"It's a place on the west side of town," Gordon looked down at the notepad where he had hastily written the information, "Pearl Moving and Storage, he told us to look in Unit 106."

"Now hold on a minute," Lee interjected. "That makes no sense. I listened to every cockamamie word that came out of that character's mouth and your man..."

"He is _not _my man," Gordon bristled slightly.

"I'm supposed to believe that he figured out the place based on what that guy said in there? How exactly...," his voiced trailed off as he looked to the now empty corner. All three looked around but he was gone. "How did he do that?"

"Do you mean the solution or the disappearing act?" Gordon asked, somewhat amused by Lee's befuddlement.

"I get it!" Amanda exclaimed.

"You do?" Lee asked incredulously.

"It isn't so hard once you know the answer to the riddle. It's an oyster."

The two men exchanged confused looks.

"Don't you see?", Amanda continued, looking from one to the other. "A baby can pick one up from an oyster bed, a penny is about what one would have cost when Lewis Carroll lived, it cooks quickly, it lies in its own dish, it is easily placed on the table, but the 'dish-cover' is hard to raise because it is held to the dish by the oyster in the middle."

"And pearls are found in oysters," Gordon added, realization dawning. "But what about Unit 106?"

"Those are the numbers on the Mad Hatter's hat. It's the price tag, ten shillings and six pence."

"That's crazy!" Lee exclaimed.

"That's brilliant!" Gordon chimed. "Absolutely amazing, Mrs. King. That was really something."

"Oh, it was something all right," Lee said impatiently. As they walked toward the door, he looked back over his shoulder to see a couple of men handcuffing Tetsch and escorting him out. _I don't know exactly what, but it was something._

~o~O~o~

The hotel elevator finally stopped at their floor. It had been a long, quiet ride and Lee and Amanda both sighed with relief when the doors opened. Lee motioned for Amanda to go first. She smiled and nodded her thanks.

Slowly, they made their way down the hall to their rooms. At length, Lee broke the silence. "Long day, huh?"

"What? Oh... yes. Very," she replied, keeping her gaze straight ahead.

"Going to be a long one tomorrow," he continued awkwardly.

"Yeah."

"At least now we can get some rest."

"I certainly hope so."

They stopped near the end of the hallway. "Well... this is me," Amanda said, indicating the door behind her.

"And this is me," Lee said, pointing to the door directly across from hers.

"Anyway... I'll see you in the morning."

"Yeah, see you in the morning." Amanda inserted her key, opened the door, and stepped inside. "Good night," she said and went to close the door.

"Amanda," Lee exclaimed.

"Yes?"

"Today... the whole thing with Tetsch... that was a pretty good job."

"Thank you." Amanda looked away for a moment, genuinely embarrassed.

"I... just wanted to tell you that, and..." Lee said hesitantly.

"And?"

"And... good night, Amanda."

"Good night, Lee." She closed the door, set the chain, and made her way to the sitting room of her suite. She sank into one of the plush chairs, kicked off her shoes, and, for a few minutes, she closed her eyes and listened to the distant sounds of the city far below. Here in the stillness of her room, everything that had happened that day played out again and again in her mind. It seemed strangely unreal and yet it was true.

She rose and crossed the room to the balcony and pushed the curtains wide open. She slid one of the doors back and stepped out to the rail. Below her, the city glittered. Skyscrapers stood like towers of light in a maze of streets. Again, she closed her eyes, enjoying the cool wind.

"We found Lily."

Amanda started at the deep voice behind her. She spun round and there, only a few feet away, was Batman. "Oh my," she breathed. _I'll never get used to men appearing out of nowhere._

"I thought you would want to know." His voice was matter of fact.

"Yes, yes, thank you, yes," she half-stammered. She looked at him, expecting him to say something else, but he didn't. He made Lee look positively chatty in comparison. "You knew where I was staying?"

Batman's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"I mean, of course _you _would know. I mean, you _are_... uh... is she okay?"

"She's shaken up but she'll be all right, eventually."

"And what about Mr. Tetsch?"

"What about him?"

"Is he going to be all right?" Amanda asked.

"He'll get the medical attention he needs," Batman replied flatly.

"That's not exactly what I meant."

"No. I didn't think so." Batman glided over to the railing of the balcony. For a moment, he looked out over the city in silence. "I don't know," he finally said without looking back. "I don't think anyone does."

"I suppose not." Amanda said, looking away uncomfortably. "I just hope... ," she started but her words failed when she looked back and saw empty space where he had been only a moment ago. She looked about the balcony, all up and down the side of the building, and lastly, over the rail into empty darkness below. Like a phantom, he'd simply vanished.

"Oh my gosh."

* * *

To be concluded...


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

Amanda looked around, taking in her surroundings. She had been to plenty of formal events, compliments of The Agency, but nothing like this. The ballroom of the Gotham Regal Hotel was huge beyond anything she had ever seen. Ornate crystal chandeliers hung from the cavernous roof, bathing the place in a golden light. Smaller light fixtures adorned elaborately carved marble columns between which were placed numerous buffet tables. In the midst of it all was the dance floor, where many of the hundreds of guests in attendance were mingling and dancing to the soft music being played by the live orchestra.

Lee led her through the crowd to the enormous ice sculpture on the table near the orchestra pit. He handed her one of the glasses of champaign and took one for himself. "Okay, I'm going to have to leave soon to meet my contact," he said in a low voice. "You stay here. Have a few drinks, enjoy the food, the music, and please try to stay out of trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Yes. This place is swarming with smooth talking millionaires and I wouldn't put it past any of them to..."

"Amanda?," a voice in the crowd exclaimed. "Amanda King?" A tall dark-haired gentleman pushed his way through the teaming mass around him to where Lee and Amanda stood. He smiled broadly. "It _is _you!"

"Yeah," Amanda replied falteringly, "it's me."

"And _you_ are?" Lee asked, stepping forward.

"Bruce Wayne!" Amanda said, genuinely astonished.

"You know him? You know _the_ Bruce Wayne" Lee asked.

"Not _personally_ but I've seen him before at some big charity events back home."

"And I've seen you too," Bruce chimed in.

"You have?" Lee and Amanda asked together.

"Of course, everyone who's anyone on the charity scene knows Amanda King. I didn't expect to see you here, though."

"Neither did I," Amanda said sheepishly.

"Won't you introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, this is Lee Stetson."

"Glad to meet you, Lee," Bruce beamed and offered his hand.

The two shook hands."Yeah... you too," Lee said evenly. "Look, Amanda, I have to meet my business associate."

"You're going to do business on a night like tonight?" Bruce asked.

"Well, this is important."

"If you say so. Anyway, your loss is my gain. Would you care to dance, Amanda?"

"Oh my, yes, Mr. Wayne."

"Please, call me Bruce."

"Amanda!" Lee exclaimed.

"Yes?"

"I don't know how long this is going to take. I may be a while."

"Oh, that's no problem," Bruce replied, "That give us more time to dance." Amanda took Bruce's proffered arm.

"I... where are you going to be later, Amanda?"

"Don't worry, she'll be right here with me, Lex."

"It's... uh... it's Lee."

"You bet. Shall we?" Bruce swept Amanda off through the crowd and into the middle of the dance floor, leaving a dumbfounded Lee behind.

"What do you think of the party?" Bruce asked after a few moments.

"It's beautiful. It's not exactly what I expected from a benefit for the Gotham Homeless Shelter."

"Is that what this is?"

"You didn't know? I figured you go to these sorts of things all the time."

"I do but I usually just show up where my secretary says I need to." Bruce smiled devilishly. "I suppose I should write a check. How about $100,000?"

"I... uh... that..."

"No, that's ridiculous. You're right. $200,000."

"Oh my gosh. You're really generous."

"Me?" Bruce shook his head. "Not really. I just give money. There will always be more money but you, you give your time and you really care about people."

"Oh, I'm not really..."

"No, I mean it. You've helped a lot of people over the years. In fact, you've done more than you know for people you will probably never meet."

"I never thought of it that way," she replied timidly.

For the next couple of hours, they talked, ate, danced, and Bruce introduced Amanda to all the most powerful, influential people in Gotham. During that time, Amanda kept an eye out for Lee, often seeing him around the edges of the floor, looking annoyed or frustrated, but it was never more than a glimpse at a time before he disappeared and she was drawn back into whatever Bruce was doing. At length, the two of them walked out onto the sky bridge that spanned from the east tower of the hotel to the west tower across the street.

"The city is so beautiful from up here," Amanda observed.

"Yes. I've always enjoyed watching Gotham from the tops of buildings."

"I'd never be able to find my way around here. I have a hard enough time in D.C."

"Look off over there," Bruce indicated with his finger. "Do you see that bridge way off in the distance?"

"Yes."

"That's Pioneer Bridge. You can see it from anywhere in Gotham. When I was little, my father told me that if I was ever lost, all I had to do was find the bridge, follow the road out of the city, and I would eventually get home."

"Wow." Amanda smiled. Suddenly, she drew a sharp breath. "Look! Up there!" Up in the sky, against a dark, low hanging cloud was the unmistakable silhouette of a bat. "I've heard of the bat signal but I never thought I would actually see it."

Off in the distance, police sirens began blaring. A few moments later, a voice came over the hotel's public address system. "Paging Mr. Wayne. Paging Bruce Wayne. You have a call. Please pick up a hotel courtesy phone. Paging Mr. Bruce Wayne."

"Uh, excuse me for a second. I better take this. I'll be right back." He disappeared back into the ballroom but soon returned. "Amanda, I am so sorry but..."

"You have to go."

"Yes. Some rather urgent business has come up and it is something I really need to deal with personally. Are you going to be okay here until your friend comes back? I can have a car wait for you if you like."

"No, that's alright." She dismissed the notion with a wave of her hand. "I'll be just fine. Thank you for a wonderful evening."

"You're very welcome. I promise that I'll look you up the next time I'm in Washington."

"I'd like that."

She watched him start to walk away but before he got too far, he turned back. "Amanda?"

"Yes."

"Thank _you_."

"For what?"

"Oh...just being you."

She smiled briefly, and then he was gone. It had been a very surreal evening, almost though not quite as surreal as her conversation with Jervis Tetsch. There was something of a mystery to Bruce Wayne. He wasn't the man his public reputation made him out to be, though he seemed to prefer people to believe it of him. Amanda wasn't sure what he was hiding from other than the pain of being orphaned at such a young age, but she hoped he had friends he could rely on. It seemed like he needed them.

At this moment, she realized it had been at least half an hour since she'd seen Lee, and she'd better check in with him. She looked over the room. It was getting late and the crowd was a little thinner now but she still saw no sign of him. She glanced back over her shoulder at the signal in the sky.

_He does get into trouble without me_, she thought,_ but surely that doesn't have anything to do with_...

"Oh my gosh," she said aloud as her eyes went wide with the possibilities now racing through her head, "I've got to find Lee!"

THE END


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Due to popular demand, there will be a sequel to A Trip Through the Looking Glass. And so I present a teaser for Who's Afraid of the Big bad Scarecrow?

The dark figure moved around to the front of the chair and eased himself down into it. He sat perfectly still, perfectly straight, his pale bony fingers laced in his lap. Lee studied him intently, trying to glean any information that might be useful. He knew that Gotham was famous for costumed characters but the sight before him was not anything he could have or would have expected.

The man's clothes looked old, very old. His shirt and pants weren't dirty, just ragged and worn. He wore a long tattered coat that fell past the top of his boots and had padded shoulders that were freakishly wide, especially on his lanky frame. Strangest of all, around his neck hung what was unmistakably a hangman's noose.

Though Lee couldn't see his face because of the shadow cast by the wide brim of his hat, he could feel his eyes fixed on him unblinkingly.

"Well, Mr. Stetson," the stranger drawled. His voice was raspy and low. "This is...ironic."

"What is?" Lee ventured to ask.

"You."

"What about me?"

"They told me that they call you...Scarecrow."

"Who told you?"

"That doesn't matter right now."

"It matters to me."

"What should matter to you is why you're here." He chuckled slightly. "At least it would...if you only had a brain," he half sang.

"Why am I here?"

"They call you Scarecrow, Mr. Stetson but you don't really know anything about fear, _real _fear. That," he jabbed a finger at him, "is the irony. That is why you're here. So _I_ can teach you all about it."


End file.
